Asplenium claussenii Hieron., Hedwigia

Kessler, Michael & Smith, Alan R., 2018, Prodromus of a fern flora for Bolivia. XXIX. Aspleniaceae, Phytotaxa 344 (3), pp. 259-280 : 259-280

Asplenium claussenii Hieron., Hedwigia 60: 241. 1918.

Range:— Venezuela, Colombia; Bolivia ( CH, LP, SC, TA) and northeastern Argentina; southeastern Brazil, Paraguay; probably more widespread.

Ecology:— Fairly common; terrestrial in humid to semideciduous forests; (200) 450–2800 m.

Notes:— Typically, this species has shorter pinnae than A. bangii and rudimentary proximal pinnae, but intermediate specimens occur. The species group including these two species, as well as A. argentinum , A. discrepans , and A. drepanophyllum , is in need of taxonomic revision.

Asplenium argentinum Hieron. , from northwestern Argentina, has been erroneously reported from Bolivia ( Foster 1958) but should be looked for in the south of the country. It differs from A. claussenii by the larger pinnae (1.8–2.3 × 0.6–0.8 cm) that are conspicuously broader and often more trapeziform, the teeth of the serrate margins more conspicuous and deeply incised, and by occasionally forked basal basiscopic veins.